Underdogs
by JoMarchWrites
Summary: Unexpected changes at the Sixteenth Precinct lead to tough decisions and dire consequences. Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler are thrust into positions they aren't ready to handle, relying on each other for faith, strength, and support. They once made the greatest team in the city, but now, they're the underdogs, and together they have to prove that everyone who doubts them is wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**_Part 1: The Set-Up_**

 ** _Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Olivia barreled into the squad room, ignoring the muttered greetings from people she passed by, and headed straight for the counter in the back. She poured a cup of coffee, leaving it black, and chugged it down fast before immediately pouring another.

"You okay?" a fellow detective asked, arms folded and eyes widened with concern.

She nodded as she swallowed the second cup down, then poured a third and moved toward her office. "It's three in the morning," she spat. "Why am I here?" She ran a hand through her hair, cursing under her breath when her rings got caught in her chestnut locks. She yanked them free and looked at the detective to her left, waiting. "Well?"

"Fin and Amaro are bringing in a suspect," the younger woman said, clearly nervous. "They thought you needed to be here. It's the Bramson case."

She sighed, rubbed her eyes, and rolled her shoulders as she took another sip of her coffee. "Whatever," she huffed, turning again and walking through her oak office door. She slammed it behind her, dropped the foam cup on her desk, and plopped into the cushioned leather chair. She dropped her head into her hands, letting out another heavy sigh, and let one hand slowly slip down her blue button down shirt, smoothing the obvious wrinkles.

Her mind cleared, defogged, and she mentally repeated a mantra over and over, trying to wake herself up and prepare for the shit-storm she was certain was heading her way. She yanked open the top drawer of her desk, fishing around for something. Grabbing it with a victorious huff, she pulled her hair up and secured it with the clip. She slammed the drawer shut, heaving a heavy sigh, and she looked around the office. There was so much of the former occupant left behind, so much that she couldn't bring herself to get rid of, and, she knew, deep down she didn't want this job, so she refused to make the office her personal space.

Clearing her throat, she reached for the thick file on her desk, one she'd been battling with for three days. "Bramson," she spat, shaking her head. She flipped open the file and stared at the face of the young girl, Valerie Bramson, who was only two days away from her twelfth birthday when they found her body. She ran a finger along the edge of the photo, briefly thinking of the life that poor child would never live. She cleared her throat again and flipped through the pages. Statements from friends and family, suspect files and descriptions, and finally the evidence log. The one thing they'd found at the crime scene that couldn't be linked to anyone they'd interviewed. "Son of a bitch," she mumbled, trying to figure out why the lab couldn't find any solid evidence on the empty gin bottle.

She gave up, figuring she'd deal with it later, and tossed the folder back onto her desk. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift back to where she was before she was called down here, back to the warm bed, and the warm body in it. She grinned, remembering the way his hands felt as they roamed over her body and made every nerve sing. The memory was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Damn it," she hissed, sitting up straight.

Before she even told whomever it was to come in, the door swung open and the same annoying blonde woman she'd just walked away from poked her head into the office.

"Um, Captain," the rookie detective said anxiously. "IAB is here, the sergeant is...well, he's demanding to see you, right now. Should I..."

She didn't get to finish her question, as the door opened even wider, scaring the blonde. A tall, well built man in a grey suit stepped into the office, pulling down on his bright blue tie. He had a smug grin on his face as he looked at the young woman he'd just shoved out of his way. "Thanks, Rollins. We're good. I'll take it from here." He watched the young cop nod sheepishly as she backed out of the room and closed the office door. He let the smile fade from his face and then he moved quickly behind the large oak desk. Without saying a word, he lifted Olivia out of her chair and into his arms, kissing her ferociously.

"Morning, Liv," he whispered when he finally broke away from her. He sighed and nuzzled her nose a bit.

She narrowed her eyes, then raked her nails along his scalp, making him moan a bit. "Morning, El." She kissed him softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I got called in, a few minutes after you left," he palmed her body possessively and grabbed her ass. He rocked into her slightly, suggestively, wantonly. "Seems the guy Fin is hauling in is a cop, so I need to..."

She moaned, throwing her head back, and said, "Stop that, we're at work."

He chuckled. "I can't stop, baby. We didn't get to do this, this morning, and you know I need..."

"Well," she interrupted, "It's gonna have to wait, today, isn't it?" She kissed him one more time, biting at his bottom lip, earning a soft growl. "You..."

She was stopped by yet another knock on the door, and she rolled her eyes. "I don't remember anyone ever bothering Cragen this much."

"I also don't remember him making out with Tucker in his office," Elliot joked. He slapped her ass and kissed her one last time, then let her go. "Show me what you're made of Captain Benson," he teased, nodding to the door.

She winked at him. "You already know, don't you, Sergeant Stabler?"

He followed her out into the squad room, turned, when she did, around the bend, and together they stepped into the interrogation room. They both nodded at Fin and Amaro, the two detectives who'd been on the case, but when they saw the grimacing face of their suspect, their smirks faded.

This was going to hurt, and it was going to take a while.

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated and motivating.**_

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_

 _ **MarchCommaJo on Twitter**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Part 2: The Turnaround_**

 ** _Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"They made you captain?" the man in the chair scoffed, eyeing Olivia with slight disdain. "How the hell did that happen? Did you even..."

"I took the exam," Olivia interrupted, sitting on the corner of the large, silver table. She crossed her arms and gave her head a jerk to the left, trying to get an errant strand of hair out of her eyes. "Won fifty bucks when I passed," she added, grinning, remembering the bet she'd made with Elliot a year ago. "Though, I'm just filling in...for now."

Elliot gave a single, hard laugh. "Yeah, okay," he said suspiciously. He knew the truth, even if his wife couldn't admit to herself. "This isn't a social visit, so can we cut the crap?" He moved fast, taking a seat across from the man. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves and began to roll them up. "Goren," he said, clicking his tongue, "Bobby Goren, recently retired from the Thirty-Sixth precinct...got bored, huh? Came back, dropped your ass here, up in Narcotics now, right? This doesn't look good for you, man, and as your IAB..."

"This has to be a mistake," Goren snapped, shaking his head. "Wait, were you trying to tell me you're in charge of Internal Affairs? When the fuck did that happen?"

Elliot gave him a flat smile. "You need to talk, now," he said, leaning forward. He took a few photos out of a folder, and he tossed them in front of Goren. "You're a cop," he said, gritting his teeth. "It was your job to protect this little girl...but, being a cop, you knew how to get what you wanted, and get away with it."

Goren stiffened and went completely white. "What? You don't think I...I would never! She's just a little girl!" He turned, aghast, to Olivia. "You know me, Benson, would I really..."

"I spent two days working with you, over a year ago," she interrupted with an incredulous squint. "For all I know, you would." She pulled an evidence bag out of her pocket, holding it up between two fingers. "Does this look familiar?"

Goren narrowed his eyes. "Where did you...how did..."

"Our lab rats found it at the bottom of a gin bottle," Olivia said, cutting him off. "In the alley where this little girl's body was found. There were no prints or DNA anywhere on the bottle, just this stuck on the inside. It took them three days to clean it up enough to run it, but...as soon as they did, it led straight to you." She slid the small medallion over to him. "Yours, isn't it?"

Goren picked up the small, plastic bag, his lip caught between his teeth. He stared at the medal, given to him when he was discharged from the Army. He ran his thumb over the detailed etching, tracing the numbers with his fingernail. He nodded slowly. "This is mine. I knew her, okay, I don't deny that. But I didn't kill her." He sighed and slid the bag back to Olivia. "She...Benson, she's..." he rubbed the sting out of his eyes.

"Goren," Elliot said, "I can't help you if you don't open up and tell us the truth." He leaned back. "You've got a history of getting yourself into some pretty deep shit. Don't let this be what takes you down for good. if you're innocent here, we can help you."

"Daughter," Goren whispered. "She's my daughter. I didn't even know about her until three months ago. When I found out...when her mother told me...that's when..."

"You had to go back to work," Olivia surmised. "What happened? Did her mother come after you for support? Did she..."

Goren stopped her, holding up a hand. "No, she...she was sick." There were tears hanging on the edges of his eyes, but they weren't yet falling. "She needs...needed...there were treatments, blood transfusions, an operation, and Sarah couldn't afford any of it, they didn't have insurance. She called me...I...she's my responsibility. Or...she was."

Olivia tilted her head, perplexed. "Goren," she started, sending a cautionary glance in Elliot's direction, "Our medical examiner didn't find anything to suggest she was sick." She sat up a bit straighter and picked at the cuticles of her fingers with her nails, a nervous habit. "She was perfectly healthy."

Goren shook his head, his eyes opening just a bit wider. "No, that...no, Sarah wouldn't have lied to me. Not about...not about this!"

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. "Valerie was absolutely healthy."

"Maybe you found that out," Elliot said, rolling his shoulders. "You have a wicked temper, just as bad as mine, and I know I'd want to kill the person who lied to me about something so terrible. You found out she wasn't dying, and you made sure..."

"You are out of your fucking mind, Stabler!" Goren yelled. "I didn't kill her! I only met her twice, and she was my daughter! I was trying to save her life, why would I take it?"

"Then how did this get inside that bottle?" Elliot asked, snatching the medal off of the table and brandishing it in the air.

Goren narrowed his eyes. "Ask her mother," he said. "I gave it to her, almost twelve years ago...the night we...I guess, the night we made that beautiful...little...little girl." And with the last word, he broke down. His head hit the table and loud, heavy sobs filled the room.

Elliot looked at Olivia, she met his gaze, and he nodded at her. Together, they rose from their seats and walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Goren to cry in solitude. "What do you think?" he asked her, getting close to her.

"I think we need to send Fin and Amaro back to see the mother," she said with a sigh. "He's too much like you, El, and you wouldn't cry like that unless..."

"Yeah," Elliot sighed. "Walk me through it, Cap." He turned to her and winked.

"Don't call me that," she said, rolling her eyes. She heard him chuckle and focused on Goren, watching him through the double-sided glass. "Sarah calls, out of the blue, says its important. She tells him the girl is his daughter, maybe she is, maybe she isn't, we need to find that out." She bit her lip, trying not to feel sympathy for Goren; it would cloud her judgement. "He believes her, and then she tells him...something no parent ever wants to hear. She's sick, and probably dying. He panics, she was just given to him, he doesn't want her ripped away. Not yet." She licked her lips and shook her head, turning away from the sight of Goren's slumped shoulders rising and falling with his cries. She looked at Elliot. "He goes back to a job he hated, fills out new..." one eyebrow moved and she put her hands on her hips. "Find out if he filled out new insurance forms. If he thought she was sick, then..."

"Then she would be on his policy," he nodded once. "On my way." He raised his hand and slipped a finger under the gold chain around her neck. "I know why he gave her that medal," he whispered, pulling on the links. He dragged his fingers down to the pendant and held it gently in between his thumb and forefinger. What seemed like a lifetime's worth of memories flickered in fast-forward, through his mind, as the pad of his finger traced the outline of the globe, wing, and anchor, the same symbol that was permanently inked into his skin. "It's the same reason I gave you this...Semper Fi, baby. You know, that means..." he paused and smiled at her.

"Always faithful," she whispered, nodding. "I didn't know how I'd get through it, when you left, and then you gave me this."

He nodded, letting the metal fall back to her skin, under the collar of her shirt. "Seems like so long ago."

"Not that long," she smiled back, "Sergeant."

"Well, things worked out, huh? I came back, got a promotion, got you," he made a seductive growling sound. "Worked out perfectly," he whispered. He moved slowly, bending his head, and just as hips lips were going to press into hers, a light knock on the door made him jump away from her. "Yeah?" he called out.

Fin opened the door and stuck his head into the small meeting room. "Something you need to see, Liv." He gave her a small, beckoning wave.

She looked at Elliot, and then Fin, before moving toward the door and following Fin into the squad room. "What's the matter?"

Fin led her over to Amaro's desk, pointing to his computer monitor, and said, "Melinda called while you were in the box. Tox came back on Valerie Bramson. She had a MedicAlert bracelet on when we found her, said she was a diabetic, but her panel came back, and everything was normal."

Rollins stepped up next to him. "Nick ran her name through the national registry," she said, resting a palm on the top edge of the computer screen. "Her mother was collecting three-hundred dollars a month from the NJDF, the foundation provides things like insulin pumps, monitors, testing strips, even the insulin for families who can't afford it."

Olivia shook her head in disbelief. "But Valerie didn't have diabetes," she said, making sure she was following.

"Nope," Amaro said, sitting back in his chair and lifting one leg, resting his ankle on his other knee. He flicked his pen around in circles between his fingers. "This kid was the picture of health."

"Melinda couldn't find any injection marks or any trace of synthetic insulin in her system," Fin added, a knowing look on his face.

"Son of a bitch," Olivia spat. She turned and looked at Elliot. "Where the hell did all that money go?" She whipped back around and pointed at Fin. "Run her financials, find out."

Fin nodded, stepping over to his own desk and picking up the phone.

Elliot furrowed his brow. "So she tells Goren the kid has terminal cancer, tells the National Juvenile Diabetes Foundation she's a diabetic, and the kid was the poster child for America's Healthiest Kids."

Olivia shrugged at him. "Munchhausen's? Or just working every system she could, using her daughter as a cash cow?"

"Could be both," he said. "I'm gonna run and make a few calls, I'll be back for Goren as soon as I get his records pulled." He looked at Fin, who was babbling into the phone, and he nodded a goodbye. He shook Amaro's hand, shot a polite wave to Rollins, then gave Olivia a warm smile. "Later, Cap," he said, giving her a mock salute.

Olivia rolled her eyes again. "Quit it!" she shouted after him with a laugh. She turned her head toward Amaro. "I need you and Fin to go ask Sarah Bramson more questions. Ask her about this," she said, waving a finger at the computer, "and...ask her about Valerie's father. If she gives you a name other than Bob Goren, you haul her lying ass back here. I've got a few questions I wanna ask her, myself."

Rollins watched Amaro get up and Fin hang up his phone. She eyed the men as they grabbed coats and keys, rushing to get the answers they craved, and then she saw Olivia heading toward her office. "Hey! What am I supposed to do?"

Olivia stopped in her tracks. She took a deep breath, turning on her heels, and as she exhaled, she said, "Bring Goren a glass of water." Her eyes closed and she sighed again. Lifting her lids, she said, "And then...ask him for a DNA sample. Run it down to Warner. Have her compare it to Bramson's." She saw the eagerness on the blonde's face. "Please," she added.

Rollins nodded. "You got it," she said, moving over to the water cooler.

Olivia brushed her bangs out of her eyes and rerouted herself, again heading for her office. She walked through the door, closed it, and sat behind the imposingly large desk. She picked up Valerie Bramson's file again, starting from the first line of the first page. She read every word, carefully, knowing she must be missing something. She flipped page after page, searching through clipped in notes and stuck on Post-Its, hoping something would hit her.

When it did, her eyes widened. She grabbed her phone and dialed fast, drumming her fingers on the surface of her desk. "Hey! It's me. I know you just left, but I...I love you, too, but that's not why...you know what I'm wearing, can you stop fucking around? This is serious, baby." She softened at his response and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, too. Listen, uh, I read back over some of the notes from the last few days, and...El, we have a bigger problem than we thought."

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated and motivating.**_

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_

 _ **MarchCommaJo on Twitter**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Part 3: The Challenge_**

 ** _Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Nick Amaro slammed the phone down, a satisfied look on his face. "You just don't get that from a cell phone," he mumbled, rubbing a hand across his forehead.

"No luck, I take it?" Rollins questioned, shooting him an unreadable look.

Nick shook his head. "No one's seen him since...since he left. His wife said he told her he was working, Doc Warner told us he called in sick." He swiveled his chair around and looked at Olivia. "You think he's involved?"

Olivia folded her arms. "I didn't, not until his disappearing act, which looks..."

She was interrupted when Elliot came storming into the room. "What did Fin and Amaro get from the girl's mother?"

"Well, hello to you, too," Fin snapped, shooting him a glare.

"Yeah, hi," Elliot hissed, "Just tell me what ya got."

Fin rolled his eyes. "So far, she copped to lying to the NJDF, but she did say that Goren was her baby-daddy," he slapped a hung photo on the cork-board behind him. "She claims this guy gave her the idea to defraud the foundation."

Elliot cursed under his breath. "Shit, Liv, you were right." He looked at her. "Where is he?"

"No one has heard from him since he left, around ten-thirty last night," Rollins said, sitting on the edge of Nick's desk. She glanced at him and smiled.

Elliot looked at them and grinned. They reminded him of himself and Olivia, when they were too afraid to fall in love, but not afraid enough to stop it. "Okay, we got a BOLO out?"

"Of course," Fin scoffed. "Put an APB out on his car, and put all the city offices on alert. If he shows up anywhere, we'll know." He folded his arms. "What'd you get outta Goren?"

"Well, after the test results came back, he completely broke down," Elliot said, bumping hips with Olivia to get her to move over. He settled against the empty desk, beside her, and reveled in the contact for a moment before speaking. "She wasn't really his daughter."

Olivia shook her head. "This woman has no soul," she said, gritting her teeth. "Lying about your kid's health to squeeze some money out of people is one thing, but to lie to someone about being a father..."

"Yeah," Elliot cut her off, nodding. "That kinda blows." He eyed her for a moment, shook his head in disgust, and shook off the bad memory. "I felt so bad for him, I took his full statement, on record. He wants to press charges." He looked at Olivia again. "He did have her on his policy, so we can bring her in on..."

"Insurance fraud," she said, nodding. "Only if they put a claim through."

He smirked. He leaned closer to her. "Why do you think I said you could bring her in?"

She laughed, shaking her head, and moved away from him before the urge to kiss him became too great to ignore. "How did she file...oh, you've got to be kidding me. He put through false claims? Is he asking to have his license taken away?"

Elliot stood up straight. "Guess so," he said. "According to Goren's records, his insurance issued Rudnick's private practice a check for three grand. It was cashed three days ago."

"The day Valerie was killed," Olivia said, her eyes narrowing the harder she thought about it. "Maybe she was supposed to split the cash with him, she didn't..."

"He took his payment another way," Amaro said. "Want me to go tell Warner she has to re-work the entire..."

"Yeah," Olivia said, nodding. "Fin take Rollins. Bring in Sarah Bramson." She looked at Elliot, hearing the shuffling of papers and feet as her detectives went off to complete their given tasks. "You think Rudnick was her father?"

"Liv," Elliot sighed, brushing his hand along her cheek, "Stop worrying about finding her father, and worry about finding her rapist and killer." He gave her a soft smile. "I know you...you think it's important, but...if she lied to Goren, who knows how many guys out there think Valerie was..."

"Oh, my God, El," she snapped, shooting up. "You're right! That could be a long list! Any one of those guys would have a reason to..."

"Excuse me," a wavering voice called from the doorway. "I...believe you're..." the man paused to cough. "I believe you're looking for me."

Elliot turned and looked sharply at Doctor Carl Rudnick, a medical examiner and private physician in the city. "Yeah," he said, looking back at Olivia. "No one's here, so...should we..."

"Who better?" she questioned with a smirk. She followed Elliot over to Rudnick, and then watched as he led the way into the next room. Turning, she snapped her fingers at a uniformed officer and gestured for him to follow, too. She told the cop to wait in the viewing room, just in case a problem arose. She stepped into the interrogation room after Elliot, closed the door and turned, and then said, "Coming in voluntarily, looks good for you." She pressed her lips together as she sat down across from the bedraggled man. "Unfortunately, everything else looks pretty bad."

Rudnick nodded. "I know I shouldn't have...I know what it could've cost me, and when the girl turned up dead, ended up on my slab...I knew you'd be coming for me as soon as you dug a little deeper."

Elliot rested his chin in his hand. "Ya don't say," he mused. "And you thought running would, what, make us stop looking?"

Rudnick sighed. "I wasn't running, I was...I was trying to find..." he stopped. "Well, it doesn't matter now. I didn't kill her. Let's make that clear right off the bat." He licked his lips and folded his hands. "Sarah came to me...do you want to record this? Take notes? I want this to be my official statement."

"You haven't been arrested," Olivia said, "But you know you're entitled to a lawyer, don't you?"

Rudnick nodded. "I don't need one, Detec...Captain, is it?"

Olivia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "For now," she said with a curt nod.

"I know my rights, and I know that by doing what I've done, I've given up those rights," Rudnick said. "So do what you have to do."

Elliot got out of his metal folding chair, walked over to the wall, and he hit a tiny red button. "All right," he said, walking back to the table. He sat. He stared at Rudnick. "Go ahead."

Rudnick cleared his throat. "Sarah came to me about three years ago," he began. "She told me her daughter had coughing fits and seizures in the middle of the night, she wanted me to give her something to help her sleep. Well, being a doctor with some kind of morals, well, I used to...anyway, I did a full blood panel on her. She was perfectly healthy." He rubbed his chin for a moment. "Sarah...told me that if I gave her a prescription anyway, she would give me half of whatever she managed to sell..."

"Drugs," Olivia interrupted. "This started with drugs?"

Rudnick nodded. "Sleeping pills, but then she wanted pain killers, and then...insulin and Provigil."

Elliot looked at Olivia, the name sparking a memory of a long-forgotten case. His head snapped back to Rudnick. "You actually gave her..."

"At two-hundred-dollars a pill, Sergeant, can you honestly blame me?" Rudnick shouted. "It's not like that child was actually taking any of the stuff! She sold it to those rich, prep-school bastards who were already addicted to it!" He took a breath. "I know it doesn't...it's still not right, but it's how I justified..." he paused. "When the drugs weren't...enough, I guess...she told me she notified the girl's father...told him some cock-and-bull story about her having Leukemia, said she'd get him to put her on his insurance." He coughed again, looked at Elliot, and then at Olivia, and saw the severe expressions on their faces. He understood, now, why people confessed so quickly when they were in the room. "With all of the prescriptions in her records, any claim would have been...viable."

Elliot leaned back and crossed his arms. "You're the one that gave the NJDF her medical records. Well, the ones you, uh, doctored, pardon the pun."

Rudnick shot him an unamused look. "Yeah," he said. "She gave me half of whatever they sent her. When she found Goren...I didn't make the connection, but I put through a false claim, but it all appeared legitimate, for three in-office intravenous antibiotic and dialysis sessions. When the check came back, it was made out to me, I endorsed it, cashed it, gave her half and sent the rest...this won't make you think any more of me, but I donated it to the NJDF."

"That was big of you," Olivia scoffed. "This little girl...who you, yourself, have seen was completely healthy, is dead. She was raped, and killed, her innocence and her life ripped away from her!"

"I know!" Rudnick yelled right back. His nostrils flared, and his chest heaved, but he calmed and shook his head in apology. "When I went out to the scene, I knew...I knew right away who she was, and I knew I'd be connected to her, eventually." He dropped what looked like a laptop case onto the table, rifled through it for a moment, and pulled out a thick file. "It's all here. Every forged record, falsified report, copies of prescriptions...this is what I went to find, why you...why I wasn't available when you..."

Olivia held up a hand. "I get it," she said, turning down the corners of her mouth and nodding. "This was...the easiest interrogation..." she shook her head in disbelief as she stood up. "Thank you." She took the file from him.

Rudnick coughed again. "You're welcome," he said, and then he looked at Elliot. "So, seeing as I've been cooperative, does this mean I get some sort of deal?"

Elliot chuckled. "You didn't want your lawyer," he shrugged. "But I'm sure the A. D. A will go easy on you. This does...help." He got up, walked back over to the panel on the wall, and shut off the recorder. He knocked on the glass, garnering the uniformed officer's attention, and the door opened almost immediately.

The cop read Rudnick his rights and cuffed his wrists, nodding to Olivia and Elliot on the way out.

"One step closer," Elliot said, holding the door open for Olivia.

She sighed with widened eyes and replied, "To what?"

"Answers," he said leading her back into the squad room. "Justice." He looked around the room, and then pulled her toward her office. "Listen," he said, waiting for her to open the door. He pushed her into the small space, closed the door, and said, "I didn't want to say this in front of everyone else, but...Cragen..."

"Oh, thank God," she interrupted prematurely. She started waving her arms and talking fast, excited to be rid of the job she'd been thrown into. "When? Seriously, I don't know how much more of this I can..."

"He isn't coming back," Elliot said, grabbing her wildly moving hands and holding them still in his. "Baby, he...he's not. I got everyone in the mayor's office up my ass about needing a permanent name on file for this unit, and I don't know how much longer I can give them these bullshit excuses." He leaned against her desk and pulled her close to him. He looked into her eyes and saw the worry and the anxiety, and he kissed her sweetly in an effort to assuage some of it. "Why...why don't you want to do this?"

"It's not that I don't want to," she told him, biting her lip. "I can't. Everyone looks at me funny, like they just expect me to fall on my face, or screw up royally." She let out a pained breath. "Even Fin thinks I'm in way over my head."

"But you're not," he told her, sincerity lacing every word. "You know the shit I've been through at One-P-P? How much flack they all gave me, because as a detective I gave them fucking hell, breaking rules here and policies there." He shook his head and held her hands tighter. "When Tucker, himself, handed me this job, he told me...well, you were there, he said I was the only one who could do it, because I knew how to work the system. I knew what to look for, I knew how to handle people who had no disregard for the rules, because I sure as hell didn't."

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, you, uh, you were certainly Public Enemy Number One in their eyes." She let herself fall a little further into his arms. "You're doing one helluva job, though. You've cleaned up more shit in the last few months than I think Tucker did in his entire career."

"And look at you," he said, tapping the end of her nose lightly. "They all ask why, why did they give the job to a sympathetic woman, right? Look what you can do, Liv! You're pushing harder, going further, because you've always needed all of the answers. You're stronger, faster, and more intelligent than anyone this entire department has pulled through in the last decade, and you...like me...know how to work the system. We did it, together, for years. You know shortcuts, and you know tricks, and damn it, Liv, you stop at nothing to get justice."

"You make me sound like Wonder Woman," she laughed.

He nodded. "You are," he told her. "To me, you are, and to the victims, you are, and to this unit...you will be. You...you could be." He tugged on her hands and moved them behind his back, and then wrapped his own around her waist. "You and I...we have been proving people wrong for years. They told us we wouldn't last in this unit, and we did. They told you that you'd never be able to handle me as a partner, well look at us now. They all warned me that you'd run when I wanted a commitment, and they warned you that I'd hurt you, and here we are, more in love than two people have the right to be."

"El," she whispered, tears forming in her brown eyes.

"Whatd'ya say, Captain Benson?" he asked, kissing her lips. "You and me, let's prove all those fuckers wrong, one more time."

She looked into his eyes, saw the unyielding faith in them. The faith he had in her. Her heart stopped and, it seemed, the decision had made itself. "On one condition," she said, pulling her left hand back and cupping his face with it. "Stop calling me Captain Benson," she demanded.

He rolled his eyes and let out a harsh huff. "Liv, c'mon, I thought I did a pretty good job convincing..."

"Stabler," she interrupted, kissing him lightly. "It's Captain Stabler."

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated and motivating.**_

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 _ **Jo**_

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	4. Chapter 4

**_Part 4: The Battle_**

 ** _Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Amanda Rollins sat in her rolling chair, leaning back, tossing a rubber ball into the air and catching it repeatedly. "So, why are they in there," she began speaking to her partner, "And we're out here?"

Nick Amaro laughed. "Because they're in charge." He shrugged. "Fin is asking all the questions, Elliot's running point because Goren is still involved in this, somehow, and Olivia is watching them, through the glass, with that hot-shit ADA."

"Who?" Rollins narrowed her eyes. "How do you know she's not in the interrogation..."

"I was in there," he interrupted her, looking at her funny. "Not even five minutes ago. Barba walked in and I walked out. You...you saw it happen! Where is your head lately?"

She rolled her shoulders and tossed the pink ball to him. He didn't even try to catch it, and it sailed over his head, bouncing out into the hallway. She raised an eyebrow, shaking her head, and then finally answered the question. "It's been a revolving door, here," she said snidely. "You think it's my fault?"

"What?" he asked, squinting at her. "What in blazes are you talking about?"

Rollins sat up a bit straighter and folded her arms. "From what I was told, when I took this job, this unit had been rock-solid. The same team, the same captain at the helm, for over a decade. That's not normal for Special Victims." She bit her lip and eyed Amaro cautiously. "I walk in, and suddenly people who've been on the job for longer than I've been alive just up and quit? Two people, good cops, great men, retire. One of the best detectives in the entire department gets handed the command post..." she let her teeth scrape over her bottom lip and a lost look filled her eyes. "It doesn't make sense, and I think..."

"You don't know?" Amaro cut her off. "Before...before either of us volunteered for this, uh, there was a...an incident." He looked over his shoulder. "People...people died. Right here, in this room." He slid off the edge of the metal table and moved quickly, sitting in the chair in front of Rollins' desk. "A young girl, a kid really, opened fire. Stabler, he...well, the girl aimed at Olivia, is how I was told this story, and Stabler shot her."

"He killed a kid?" Rollins asked, stunned. "Holy shit."

Amaro nodded. "He was a wreck afterward. He left the unit...and it affected everyone, especially Benson." He sighed and folded his hands on the desk. "Seeing something like that...you never get over it. So that's why Munch retired, and Cragen quit. The job...after so long...became too fucking much."

Rollins nodded, understanding. "I didn't know." She looked at Amaro. "Why her, though? Why did they give Olivia the job, knowing she..."

"Something you need to understand about Olivia Benson," Amaro said, a small smile on his face, "Is that she will never work with anyone else the way she worked with Stabler. You saw it, briefly, when he came back to the unit. They were unstoppable. Then Tucker retired, his first...and only...recommendation was Stabler. I guess the higher-ups knew that Olivia wouldn't handle losing him twice, so when Cragen took leave, they handed her the control."

"Makes sense," Rollins said with a slightly pensive frown. "Did you know...they're married? I didn't they could be..."

"There's no rules against it," he said, his lips curling into a smirk. "No law, guideline, nothing...nothing at all against partners...being more than partners." His tone had shifted and he knew it affected her, seeing the expression on her face change. "They got married a few months after the shooting. Guess they realized they had too much to lose, if they ever really lost each other. Fin said it was a long time coming, and from what he told me, everyone in the NYPD expected it."

"They did," Olivia said, stepping closer to them. She was walking a few steps in front of a man in a three-piece suit, who looked annoyed. "My ears were ringing."

Amaro looked at her and smiled. "Hey, Cap'n," he joked. "Just filling in the blanks for Rollins over here. She, uh, clearly was left out a few loops."

"Well, I hope you reached a point of clarity," Olivia said, putting her hands on her hips. "You two have to go out to Queens, pick up a new person-of-interest in the Bramson case."

"Who?" Rollins asked, standing.

Olivia handed her a white piece of paper. "His names Victor Ramirez," she said, "Sarah Bramson, after about thirty minutes of hysterical crying and whining, told us that he is Valerie's biological father. According to her, he had a pretty huge reason to want Valerie...out of the way."

Nick shook his head as he rose to his feet. "There is never a good reason to want your child out of the way," he said sadly, thinking about his own children. "Nothing...nothing could ever make me..."

"I know, Nick," Olivia interrupted. "Don't...don't do that. The second you start letting cases get personal, that's when the shit becomes too deep to clear away." She looked at Rollins. "Bring him back here, and the first thing you do is get a swab."

"You don't think he's her father?" Rollins asked, tilting her head.

Olivia rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Sarah's done nothing but lie to us since the moment we found her daughter in that alley," she spat. "I'm not taking her word for it. I want a test done, ASAP."

"Good call," Amaro said, exhaling sharply. He looked at Rollins. "Ready?"

Rollins nodded, giving him a half-smile. She kept her eyes on Nick's as she pulled on her jacket, nodded once to Olivia, and stepped in time with her partner.

"Twenty bucks says they're playing hide the sausage," Barba said, folding his arms.

Olivia laughed. "Please," she said, shaking her head. "I know the signs. Nothing's going on between them." She raised an eyebrow and smirked at the attorney. "Yet."

"Is that how it started? With you and Stabler?" Barba asked, plopping into Rollins' empty chair.

Olivia leaned against the desk and crossed her arms. "I don't think we were ever that transparent," she said with a crooked grin.

Barba started rearranging all of Rollins' pens, and the corners of his lips turned up as he asked, "Anniversary's coming up, huh?"

"Two years," she said with a smile. "Falls right in line with Rollins and Amaro being here...wow, it's been a year already." She exhaled and there was a moment of silence. "You don't think I can do this job, either, do you?"

He stopped doodling on Rollins' desk blotter and shot her a look, seemingly frozen. "How did you...what part of anything I said made you...what?"

She laughed and licked her lips. "In the observation room, you...you said, you weren't sure how I could separate my personal feelings for my husband from my job. I assumed you meant..."

"I meant...that it must really hard for you to control yourself when you're watching him interrogate someone," Barba said, flattening his hands on Rollins' desk. "I saw it in your eyes, the more pissed off he got, the more you wanted to tear his clothes off." He tilted his head. "How many times has he bent you over your desk since you got the job?"

Her eyes were wide and her jaw hung open. "Oh, my God," she spat with a surprised laugh. She watched the man grin and wink, and then she asked him, "What are you going to charge her with?"

"For starters, I'm gonna make sure the three separate fraud charges stick," he told her. "And then...she'll be indicted on aggravated interference with health care services, bribery, coercion, criminal sale of a controlled substance on or near school grounds, possession of drugs with intent to sell, the countless obstruction charges we..."

"I think a better question would be what aren't you charging her with?" Olivia chided, flabbergasted at the list that Barba had just rattled off.

Barba put his hands in his pockets and gave her a smug grin. "Murder," he shrugged. "But, that may change, depending on what Romeo and Juliet find out from Ramirez."

"What about me and Liv?" Elliot questioned with a grin, coming into the squad room with Fin right behind him.

Barba flattened his expression. "Not you," he said snidely. "If you're finished with her, I'll schedule arraignment for Bramson."

"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. He was pulling down his sleeves and refastening his cuff-buttons when he looked over at Fin. "You got the..."

Fin held up a notebook and cut Elliot off. "Right here," he said, handing the pad to Olivia. "She wrote it all down. I think, uh, you're not gonna wanna hear this, but I think she needs a Seven-Thirty."

"What?" Olivia asked, annoyed. "Why?"

Fin looked her in the eyes. "That girl is bat-shit crazy," he said, heading over to his desk.

Barba pulled the notebook out of Olivia's hands and read the first three lines of writing. "I'll schedule one of those, too. Make me a copy of this?" He handed the yellow pad back to her. "I'll be back in about an hour." He looked around. "She's still in there? With her lawyer?"

Elliot nodded. "Discussing the offer we put on the table."

"What offer?" Barba snapped. "I didn't agree to making her an offer."

Elliot held up his hands. "Easy," he said. "It's dropping the conspiracy charge in exchange for..."

"Conspiracy charge?" Barba yelled, interrupting. "I left you alone in there for two minutes, and it's like I know nothing about the case anymore!"

Olivia looked at Elliot, concerned, and just as irritated as Barba. "What conspiracy charge?"

"Read her confession, Liv," Elliot said. He sighed, rubbed a hand down his face, and looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how to tell Olivia something he knew would piss her off, more than anything. "Liv, she...she knows who killed her daughter." He looked at her, almost apologetically, and he reached for her hands, an attempt to keep her calm. "She was gonna pay him to do it."

Olivia's eyes narrowed. "Wh...what? How could...she was her...mother, I..."

"Yeah, I know," he said, a softer tone. "That's why she...she changed her mind, she backed out of the deal." He held her gaze and said, "She took out a pretty hefty life insurance policy on her daughter, but...when all of those medical claims started hitting, the company cancelled the policy, so she called off the hit."

"Guy got pissed, killed her anyway, but raped her for added revenge," Olivia supposed. She swallowed the urge to throw up, yell, and hit things. She looked at Elliot and unconsciously ran her thumbs along the sides of his hands. "Who was it?"

"That's why we offered her that deal," Fin said, and then he looked at Barba. "The other seventy-six things you want to hang her for are still in the basket, Barba, but this...we need the guy's name."

Barba nodded. "For once, I agree with you." He looked at Olivia. "Like I said, I'll be back in an hour, and I'm not backing down on anything else, I have...:"

"Excuse me?" another lawyer called from the doorway leading into the observation room. "My client...she's going to take the deal."

Olivia pulled her hands out of Elliot's, took two steps toward the man, and gave him a sour smile. "Who was it, Langan?"

"Benson, back up," Trevor Langan said, slightly scared. "She didn't tell me. She wants to talk to Fin and Elliot, and she wants to make sure that charge is dropped. She...she doesn't want to go down for trying to have her own daughter killed."

Olivia looked at Elliot. "Go," she said, nodding. She watched her husband and Fin follow Trevor back through the door. She sighed and looked at Barba. "If the name she gives us doesn't pan out..."

"Then I will add a conspiracy charge to her laundry list," Barba finished. "You, uh...you and Elliot...wanna grab a couple drinks when this is over? I think we're all gonna need it."

Olivia gave the attorney a smile. He reminded her of someone, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Sure," she said, nodding at him.

He smiled. "Oh," he said, "And Olivia? You asked me how I felt about you being captain of this ship. I don't think you can do it." He watched her eyes fall closed and the smile fade from her lips. But then, he took a few steps closer to her, rested a hand on her shoulder, and said, "I know you can. You can, and you will. But I'm not the one that has to believe it, am I?"

She gave him a wide-eyed expression, a mix of gratitude and respect, and she said, "I'm getting there."

Barba squeezed her shoulder and turned, walking away from her.

Olivia folded her arms again, looked around her empty squad room, and felt herself stand a little taller. "I can do this," she said softly to herself. The moment of revelation was interrupted when something hit her, very hard, in the shoulder. "Ow! What the..." she turned and saw a pink, rubber ball bouncing across the floor. She rolled her eyes. "Barba!" she yelled. "Grow up!" She laughed and headed into the observation room, walking with a longer stride and new sense of purpose. She stepped up to the glass wall, peering through it, watching her husband and Trevor Langan talking in a corner while Fin made Sarah Bramson write down the name and contact information of a man who may or may not be Valerie's killer.

She took a deep breath and relaxed as she exhaled. "This is gonna involve so much fucking paperwork," she said, rolling tension out of her neck.

"You can handle it," a low voice from behind her confirmed.

She turned around and her eyes widened. "Chief Muldrew!" She stood up a little straighter. "I wasn't expecting...wait, do we have a meeting? Did I miss..."

"Calm down," the chief chuckled. "I just dropped by to, uh...well, there's something that you and Sergeant Stabler need to be made aware of, and you're both here, now, so...two birds, one stone, as they say."

Olivia furrowed her brow. "Are we in some kind of trouble?"

"Trouble? No," Muldrew said, shaking his head. "Danger."

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated and motivating.**_

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_

 _ **MarchCommaJo on Twitter**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"What the hell does that even mean?" Elliot asked, his arms crossed and his face screwed up in an expression torn between fear and disdain.

Chief Muldrew peered at him over his glasses, a flat and unamused smile on his face. "It means, Sergeant, that someone in this city has it out for the two of you, and your jobs, and this case is only making it worse."

Olivia rolled her eyes and laughed bitterly. "Of course, the minute I think I could actually, maybe, do this job, something like this..."

Muldrew blinked once before holding up a hand and interrupting her. "Captain, if I didn't believe you were capable of running this unit as good as, if not better than Don Cragen, I would not have handed the reins over to you in the first place." He cleared his throat. "As you know, there are some power-hungry, manipulative, bastards in this city, and a few them are, unfortunately but expectedly, after your jobs. Now that we got wind of this, though, we can avoid any real problems and head whoever this is off at the pass."

Elliot unfolded his arms and jammed his hands in his pockets. "What does any of this have to do with this case?"

Muldrew sighed. "The name Sarah Bramson gave you in return for that dropped charge..." he paused, coughed, and took a breath before continuing. "It linked the case to organized crime. Someone must've known Bramson would eventually point the finger...and rather than wait for you to follow the lead, they simply decided to..."

"Someone put a hit out on me and Liv?" Elliot questioned, both eyebrows scrunched in concern as he stared at the Chief of Detectives.

"Not exactly," Muldrew said in a sing-song manner, pressing his lips together. He turned his hat around in his hands and looked down, trying to figure out the best way to explain. "This, uh, family...if you want to call it that...they have someone on the inside. A cop. How do you think I found out about this before you were even done interrogating Miss Bramson?" He looked at Elliot. "The guy doesn't want to hurt you, or see you hurt, so as soon as he got the call, he came to me. You're not in any immediate danger, but you need to watch your backs." He turned his gaze to Olivia. "When you find Sal Carbone, you don't go after him by yourself, do you understand? You send someone else, and you send them with heavy artillery."

Olivia nodded, biting her lip. She shot a cautionary glance toward Elliot and took a shaky breath before looking back at Muldrew. "Right," she said. "I'm not really, uh, I don't get to go out into the field much anymore, anyway." Her eyes traveled over to Elliot again. "Of course, this would happen on the one case I work with you."

Muldrew laughed, slapping his knee. "Seems the two of you, together, still make people look bad, even when you're not trying." He pointed a finger at Olivia. "You're running the unit better than anyone expected, but because this turned into a high-profile case, involving a cop and a city medical examiner, it pushed you back into the spotlight with Stabler." He smiled and laughed slightly. "The...the other one. This is gong to get very confusing. Are you sure you want to change your..."

"It's already been done," Olivia said, cutting him off. "It says it on my license, it might as well say it on my paycheck," she laughed with a slight shrug. "We won't be working together. Not much. It won't be as confusing as you think."

Muldrew chuckled. "Well, maybe not, but I think I speak for everyone when I say...it won't be the same without Benson."

"She's still Benson," Elliot said, smirking. "Don't let the name trick you, she's...she's all Benson." He looked at her, smiled softly, and turned back to Muldrew. "So you said you were taking care of..."

"While I can, yes," Muldrew interrupted. "You two...solve this case, get Goren back to work, and stay in your own departments unless, God forbid, we get another Special Victim's case involving a cop, and hopefully, they'll realize that you're just as unstoppable on your own as you are together." He rose from his chair and put his hat on, nodding to Olivia and then to Elliot. "I expect to see both of you at the budget meeting, and, of course, you know you're expected to teach a class at the academy on..."

"Yeah," Elliot spoke, rolling his eyes, "We have that marked in our calendar."

Muldrew shook with laughter as he turned and walked out of Olivia's office. Olivia turned to Elliot, crossed her arms, and tilted her head as she said, "Not even my partner anymore, and still making my job difficult."

He narrowed his eyes and moved fast, pulling her into his arms. "Oh, please, I make your job fucking easy." He kissed her fiercely, his hands curling into her skin where he gripped her. He moaned lightly in protest as he felt her begin to pull away, and he tightened his hold to keep her from moving too far back. "No," he whined.

She placed her hands on his chest and licked her lips, contemplating kissing him again. "We have work to..."

"We also have, um, other needs, that really shouldn't be ignored," he interjected, a stern look on his face and deep-set desire in his eyes.

"Not now," she declared sadly, though she moved closer to him rather than away. Caving, she kissed him again, her hands creeping up his back. "Damn it, Elliot," she hissed, ripping herself off of him again.

"What?" he chuckled. "I can't help being incredibly irresistible, not any more than you can," he joked smugly. He sighed, surrendering, and slapped her ass hard before letting her go. "I'll go see where my guys are on clearing Goren. We got Rudnick in holding, Bramson is on her way up the fucking creek and nothing Langan does could help her, Rollins and Amaro should be on their way back with Ramirez, and...we just have to worry about..."

"Finding Sal Carbone," Olivia said, finishing the statement for him. "Bramson hired a professional hitman to kill her child." She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, ignoring the bile rising and the burn stinging at her nose and cheeks. "El, I can't imagine how..."

"I know," he said softly, running a hand up and down her arm. "I know. Some people in this world...should have never been blessed with children."

Olivia looked into his eyes, a much deeper and greatly hidden message behind her gaze. "And others, who should be, just...aren't."

"Hey," he said with a smile, cupping her face and stopping her from getting more upset. "We wanted to wait, be alone for a while, then shit happened at work, things got crazy...when it all settles down, you know we're trying. Like hell."

"I know," she said, nodding and grinning, finally relaxing a bit. "I can't wait. You know that, don't you?"

He scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. "Neither can I," he said. "I told you, long ago, I always wanted to be the man that made you a mommy. It didn't matter how, you know?" He smirked at her. "I'm really fucking lucky that God works the way He does, and I get to do it as your husband." He narrowed his eyes. "Trying is gonna be so much fucking fun." He kissed her lips softly. "I have to go, because if I stay here any longer, all that paperwork o your desk is either gonna be on the floor or stuck to your bare ass." He winked, gave her another kiss, and said, "I love you."

Laughing and rolling her eyes, she walked with him to the office door. "I love you, too." He led him into the squad room, where they met Fin, who looked annoyed. "What...what happened?"

"Rollins and Amaro are in the box with that punk, Victor Ramirez," Fin said, an obvious chip on his shoulder. "Like you asked, I got a cheek swab, ran it down to Melinda. Waiting on her call, now, but man, it ain't looking good."

"You don't think he's Valerie's father?" Olivia asked, not surprised.

Fin tossed a file at her and said, "I doubt it, since Sarah Bramson isn't her mother."

Olivia's eyes widened and she flipped the folder open. "Mother fucker," she spat, shoving the file toward Elliot.

"What are you giving this to me for?" he asked, wide-eyed. "I'm not your..."

"Habit," she seethed, "Just fucking read it." She folded her arms over her tightening chest and tried to slow her rapid breathing. "That's why it was so easy to...of course, she wouldn't feel a shred of guilt or remorse for hiring someone to kill her, she wasn't her daughter!"

Reading the report, Elliot shook his head. "Why wasn't this done when we..."

"Rudnick," Fin interrupted. "He ran the prelim, remember? We just told Melinda to re-work it from the beginning, and this is the first red-light we got. Her real name was Stephanie Delaclare, she was put up for adoption at six months old, place called Angels of Mercy Miracle Network. When Amaro gets out of interrogation, he's gonna take a ride and talk to them."

"Why do we have to wait for him?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brow. "Take the sedan, go. Find out everything you can, and for the love of God ask them if they did any kind of background check on Sarah Bramson before handing her a baby!"

Fin stared at her, stunned. He didn't argue, though, and simply huffed as he stood up and grabbed the keys off of Amaro's desk. "I'll, uh, I'll be back, I guess."

Elliot and Olivia watched him go and then looked at each other. He was the first to speak. "You find out if Barba scheduled that Seven-Thirty exam?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding. "Huang's gonna talk to her at four o'clock," she told him. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, telling him without words that she'd miss him when he was gone, and she watched him follow Fin out of the squad room. "What the hell is going on with this case?" she asked herself, shaking her head and walking, confused, back into her office.

 ** _Please leave some feedback; let me know what you'd like to see!_**

 ** _Peace and Love_**

 ** _Jo_**

 ** _MarchCommaJo on Twitter_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Olivia stood in her office doorway, leaning against the molding, her arms crossed and a narrow-eyed glare plastered on her face. She looked at the clock on the wall, squinting for clarity, and then looked at her watch, comparing the times. "Shit," she hissed, biting her lip. "Fin, have you heard from either of them?"

Fin looked up from his report, shook his head, and said, "Not in the last couple of hours."

"Damn it," she spat, turning on her heels and grabbing for her office phone. She dialed fast, surprised at how quickly she'd memorized his office number. "It's me," she said before he even finished answering the call. "No, I'm not taking anything off," she said, rolling her eyes. "I've got two missing detectives, and I need someone to..." she paused, listening. "Yeah, I think they both do. I'll call Morales and see if he get a location, you get someone on the radio for me, and we'll..." he said something that stopped her words. "I love you, too, but I don't think we should be saying that at...okay, okay, you're right. Don't...don't snap at me, I'm already having a freak-out moment, here." She ran her hand over her stomach, feeling queasy, and resting it on her hip. "Thank you. Yeah, later. Bye." She dropped the receiver into the cradle and walked back out into the squad room. "Tell me again," she said to Fin, walking over and hovering near his desk. "What did that nun tell you?"

"Liv, really? You're gonna give yourself an ulcer," he spat at her.

"I already have one," she countered, pulling open the top drawer of Nick Amaro's desk and grabbing a bottle of antacid tablets. She popped the cap, shook two pastel-colored caplets into her hand, and threw them into her mouth. She dropped the bottle back in place and slammed the drawer closed.

Fin watched, concerned but silent. "Okay, uh, Sister Mary Paul," he said, flipping pages in a notebook. "Said that about thirteen years ago, two cops showed up, asking all kinds of questions about where they get their kids from, if there's a screening process before placement. Something in the case they were working, two adopted Romanian kids with no papers. They asked if the Angels of Mercy had any relations with other orphanages in other countries, they were accused of being involved in..."

"Trafficking," Olivia nodded. "You told me."

Fin tilted his head and let out a hard sigh. "So if you know what I told you..."

"I'm trying to think!" she yelled at him. "Christ, Fin!" she seethed. "Did she...did she tell you who these cops were? Did she give you names?"

Fin, taken aback by her demeanor, shook his head. "She couldn't remember. She, uh, she only said one was a man, one was a woman, and two days later one of the other nuns and two babies went missing. A week after that, the Bramsons adopted Valerie. She said Mr. Bramson almost cried."

"When...when did you say..." she stopped, shaking her head. She didn't want to ask him again. "Close to thirteen years...Valerie was almost twelve, so her timeline is off, I guess. Who would have..." her eyes shot open and she slapped a balled fist down on Fin's desk, spilling some of his coffee onto his almost-finished report. "Mother fucker," she cursed.

"Took the words right outta my mouth," Fin ground out, wiping away the coffee with his sleeve. "What the hell, Benson?"

She gave him a hard look. "Excuse me?"

"What?" he questioned, irritated. Rolling his eyes, he asked, "What, you want me to call you Stabler?"

"It's my name," she said, "And watch the attitude, Fin." She stifled a yawn and said, "That could have been Goren. His partner was a woman. Eames." She rolled her shoulders and sighed. "Did she give you anything else? What about the man she knew as Mister Bramson, did she say..."

"Here," Fin said quickly, thrusting a file in her direction. "This is everything they had on the adoption, including old Polaroids. See for yourself."

Olivia held her breath as she opened the folder, gasping slightly when she saw the first aged photograph. "She was so..." she stopped, shook her head, and let one fingernail trace over the face of Baby Valerie. She swallowed the urge to cry and flipped a few pictures. "This is Sarah, but who...son-of-a-bitch." She flipped the photo over and held it out to Fin. "Look familiar?"

Fin made a disgusted face. "I'll go," he said, ripping the picture out of her hand. "He's down in holding?"

Olivia nodded, and then picked up Fin's phone, dialing up to Technical Response before she forgot why she needed him. As she was talking to Morales, a lead in the unit, Rollins and Amaro stormed into the room, yelling at each other. Her head shot up, and she covered the mouthpiece of the receiver with her hand. "Hey! I am on the phone! What the hell is going on?"

Rollins pointed at Amaro. "He lost Carbone!"

"Me?" Amaro yelled, wide-eyed and offended. "You're the one who shouted, 'Sal Carbone! Stop! NYPD!' Like he was just gonna turn around and say, 'Oh, ya got me, Copper?"

Rollins tightened her jaw and took a step toward him. "He ran, right to you! You could have..."

"Enough!" Olivia yelled, stopping them. She'd ended her call with Morales, no longer needing to trace any cell phones, and she took three broad steps toward Rollins and Amaro and crossed her arms. "The two of you..." she pointed her pinkie finger at them, "Need to figure out how to handle this. Trust me, it doesn't go away if you ignore it, but you need to push it as far back as you can, while you're at work." She looked pointedly at Rollins. "You can't take your personal shit out on him," she paused and turned to Amaro, "And you can't explode at her because you feel guilty. The two of you...have to find other ways to deal with the tension. Or you can't do this job." She eyes them both carefully, studying their shocked and guilt-ridden faces. "Do I make myself clear?"

Nick nodded first, licking his lips, then jutted his chin toward Rollins. "As long as she does her job, I can do mine," he said snidely. "I can't keep looking over my shoulder to make sure..."

"Deja vu," Elliot's cool, low voice filtered into the room, interrupting Amaro. He looked at Olivia, a long-buried memory risen to the forefront of his mind. "Sounds familiar."

"A little too familiar," Olivia said, looking right back at him. "I, uh, found them."

"No," Elliot said, looking skyward and intoning it like a song lyric. "I did. Who do you think dragged them down here."

"Oh, really," Olivia gave Rollins a scolding glance, then narrowed her eyes more when she looked at Amaro. "How long ago did you lose Carbone?"

Amaro sighed and scratched sheepishly at the back of his neck, shame creeping up his cheeks. "Two hours," he mumbled.

"Do you have any idea how fucking crazy I have been, thinking one of his goons got to you?" Olivia hurled at them. "And lemme guess," she said, pointing to Rollins, "You were the one who decided to spend the last two hours looking for him, and you," she shot the hand over to Amaro, "Went along with it, because it was either back her play and go with her, or let her go alone, which she would do anyway, and you can't stand the thought of anything happening to her because you weren't there."

Nick looked at Amanda, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "Pretty much," he said.

Olivia looked at Elliot, stone-faced, and said, "I have a headache."

He laughed and moved further into the room. "Now you know," he said with a shrug.

"What?" she questioned, waving a hand a dismissing Amaro and Rollins to their desks.

"What we put Cragen through," he said as he leaned back against Fin's desk. "Did they tell you?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Not...not outright, but we didn't exactly broadcast it to..."

He laughed and held up a hand. "Not about that! About Carbone," he said, still chuckling. "Couple of uniforms spotted him heading down Fifth Ave. Call came in over the CB when I picked up your two lost birdies, over there. They got him, he'll be here in about ten minutes." He narrowed his eyes. "Are you okay? You don't look so good." He immediately retracted his statement. "I mean, you look gorgeous, you always do, but...you look a little rough around the edges, right now."

She let out a long breath and steadied herself on the desk beside him. "Fine, just...we haven't slept, I haven't eaten, I have a headache, I'm pissed off...I am running on coffee and pure adrenaline, and I just want..." her eyes twisted to look at him and she added, "You know what I want."

"Oh, yeah I do," he said, smirking. "Same thing I want. Soon." He cracked his knuckles and asked, "Where's Fin?"

"Talking to Ramirez again," she said. She reached behind her and pulled the file up off of Fin's desk. "He brought this back from the Angels of Mercy. Twelve years ago, when Sarah Bramson went to pick up Valerie, Ramirez was with her. He lied to us."

"Doesn't surprise me," Elliot said.

"Maybe this will," she said, tugging absently on his tie. "I'm pretty certain Goren and Eames investigated the place, a week before Valerie was adopted. It might be how Sarah met Goren." She pulled on his tie again, a bit harder, and turned her eyes up at him. Maybe some big, strong, intimidating IAB guy should go pay them both a little visit."

His nose twitched, his lip curled, and he shifted his weight and tugged on his pants. "Fucking hell," he whispered, "You didn't have to ask me in that seductive little bedroom voice, you know."

"It makes you move faster," she said, winking. "I want this done. Tonight, El."

He nodded. "Me, too, Liv. Or, uh, should I say, Captain Stabler." He saluted, turned on his heels, and headed out hoping that Goren had pulled himself together enough to remember something from so long ago, and praying he could get a hold of Detective Alexandra Eames.

 ** _Peace and Love_**

 ** _Jo_**

 ** _MarchCommaJo on Twitter_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Elliot, leaning up against the wall of his wife's office, stared at her as she popped three more chewable antacid tablets into her mouth. "That's starting to worry me," he told her, biting his lip.

"Well, not knowing what the fuck happened to this little girl is worrying me," she bit back, chomping the chalky bits left in her mouth. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, and then looked at her husband. "Did you find Eames?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod, moving closer to her. His hand toyed with the laces handing down from her grey hoodie, and he smiled, remembering the constant traveling the sweatshirt did from him to her and back again. "She couldn't remember anything, but, uh, she gave us access to her old files."

"And I'm guessing Goren told you the same thing," she said, her words filled with disgust and disdain.

"Only thing he remembers, for obvious reasons, is he met Sarah Bramson during that investigation," he said. "We already figured that out, anyway."

Olivia shook her head. "How could they not fucking remember!" she yelled, frustrated. "I remember every case, every victim..."

"So do I, Liv, but this unit...how can you not remember?" he questioned, and then he sighed and wrapped one arm around her. "No matter how hard we try to forget, we can't. In a way...I sort of envy them." Pausing to take a breath and a long look at his wife as he continued to roll the cotton laces of her sweatshirt between his fingers. "Oh, before I forget, we need to get Barba down here, because Ramirez..." the words were lost, forgotten.

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "You gonna finish that sentence, or are we gonna play charades, now?"

Chuckling, he tugged on the strings in his hand, towing her toward him. Letting go of the grey laces, his hands flew to her hips and he pulled her against him. He buried his head in her neck, moaned as he breathed her in, and let his other hand rest on the small of her back. "You smell amazing." He slid his hands back up to finger the ties from the hood again. "So amazing."

"I went downstairs and took a shower," she said, rolling her eyes. "That smell is industrial soap."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's you." He bent his head again and kissed her, moving his hands up to hold her face in them. "You." He closed his eyes and breathed her in, moaning softly, before dropping his lips to hers.

Stiffening before she relaxed into him, she held her breath, exhaling when his hands moved down to her shoulders. She kissed him back, losing herself, her arms looping around his neck. Her body pressed into his, her hips rolling against his firm frame. She ached for him; it was clear by the way she whimpered and clutched his collar.

"Work," he mumbled, as best as he could with her tongue in his mouth. He knew, at this point, it didn't matter. They'd gone far too long without some sort of physical contact between them, and the weight of the case was wearing them down emotionally. His hands traveled over her sides, around her waist, down her hips, landing on her ass. He squeezed and pressed her into him as he thrust, holding her still and close against his already-painful erection. He rocked into her again, earning moans from both of them as he backed her up into the soft, leather chair in the corner.

Her knees hit the cushion and she fell with an ungraceful plop into the chair. She was only given time enough to brush the hair out of her face and take a short breath before he was on top of her, one of his large hands working her pants buttons apart and the other yanking at his belt. His fingers tugged on the black leather and the silver buckle jingled. Grunting, he shimmied his hips, letting the slacks fall around them, and he laughed at the expression on Olivia's face, reacting to the fact he wasn't wearing anything under them. "Up," he commanded, and watched her hips rise off the chair. Eagerly, he licked his lips and and grabbed her pants, hooking his fingers around the elastic of her underwear and pulling down fast.

"Shouldn't be doing this," she said hoarsely, reaching for his tie and pulling him back up to her. "So fucking wrong," she breathed, feeling his dick prodding at her.

He gave a small thrust, groaning when he felt her wetness coat the tip of his cock. "Don't really care right now," he said, tightening his muscles and thrusting again, harder this time, slamming into her. He caught her cry in his mouth as he kissed her, just in time, and he began to move slowly, but with great force. Sliding his hands down her thighs, he curled his fingers round the backs of he knees and lifted, anchoring them around his back. He moved faster, harder, knowing they were already risking a lot, and they didn't have any time to bask in the warmth of the moment.

This wasn't about romance, it was pure, primal need. It had come out of nowhere, spurred on by a look and a kiss. She folded her fingers under his shirt, scratching at the skin of his lower back as he hit into her. She felt him deep, her head fell back and her mouth dropped open, a low, lyrical cry of his name spilled out. With two more thrusts, her back arched, her toes curled, and she picked her head back up to look at him. "Elliot."

"Fuck," his answer was, and his lips slanted over hers again, his hands now gripping the arms of the chair. He felt fire in his groin rising and a tightness in his balls that told him this was a long awaited release that his body couldn't wait for, and he had to make sure she'd go with him. He cursed into her sweet kiss, "Fuck, Liv, baby, please," and shifted his weight to one side, moving a hand between their bodies. He heard delicious sounds, skin slapping and wet squelches, every time he pulled out of her and rammed back into her, and his fingers finally met the source of such glorious music.

"Oh, my God," she yelped, her voice high, but soft. She felt his fingers swiping with lightning speed and thunderous force over her clit, and she dug her nails into his skin deeper, not noticing or caring if she was drawing blood. "El, oh, God."

"I don't like rushing this, baby, but...fuck, shit." He felt her pussy clamp and grasp, holding him prisoner as he tried like hell to keep moving. The pulsing of her body took over, dominating him, and he came harder than he thought he would. It was pent up, he realized, and with this fast and furious release, his body gave up everything it had. He pried his lips away from her as he shook against her, his muscles clenching.

She opened her eyes, as hard as was, and watched his face, the way his eyes changed, the way his lips fell into a round shape, the way his skin reddened. She felt his abs twitch against her body and she moaned, loving that moment, every time. "Elliot," she moaned softly as ripples of another orgasm, weaker but still intense, washing over her.

He stayed with her as long as he could, until he felt the blood begin to rush back through the rest of his body, and he laughed as he kissed her again. "Holy shit," he chuckled, backing away from her and holding himself upright. On wobbling legs, he stood and bent down to pick up his pants. He shook them a bit to keep the fabric from grazing his tender-to-touch cock, but as he zipped the fly, he moaned. "Fuck," he seethed, closing his eyes, feeling his dick twitching against the cold metal.

"What the hell was that," she panted, shoulders rising and falling with her quick breath. She wriggled her own work slacks back up and got to her feet. As she rebuttoned them, she felt still-warm wetness slide down her inner thigh. Rolling her eyes, she swiped a hand along the fabric of her pants and stared at her husband. "Bad, bad Sergeant," she scolded.

"Well, see," he began with a smirk, licking his lips arrogantly, "I needed that. So did you." He reached for her, pulled on her sweatshirt to straighten out some wrinkles, and kissed her softly, his fingers dancing through her hair as he swayed with her.

"Mmmm," she hummed, smiling against his slow kiss. "Now, you want romance?"

He nodded, tugging her hair just a touch. "Always." He pulled away from her, took a long, deep breath, and as he exhaled he said, "What were we talking about? Before..."

She laughed, cutting him off. "You came in here, told me Rollins and Amaro had Ramirez in the box..."

"Right, right," he said, grinning. "I told you Eames didn't remember anything but..."

"Gave us her network password," Olivia nodded, smiling. "You were gonna say something else but...we got a little distracted."

Elliot bit his lip, then, knowing he was about lose the relaxed, content wife and replace her with one very pissed off Captain. "Ramirez caved. He'll tell us everything but, uh, he wants a deal."

"Don't they all," she scoffed, folding her arms. The satisfied grin faded and in its vacated spot was a scowl. "What does he want?"

"He asked...Liv, he asked if we could guarantee his safety," he said. "This isn't a federal case, I know we can't put him in WitPro," he told her. "But he won't talk unless we figure something out. He said...he's got a lot of shit to give us, this goes much deeper than Valerie Bramson, and his life has already been threatened."

She narrowed her eyes, took a step toward Elliot, and asked, "Who threatened him?"

He ran a hand down his face, grinning and moaning just a bit because her scent was still lingering on his fingers. He composed himself, looked into her eyes, and said, "Bishop."

"Like the Bishop of the Church?" she asked, confused. "I didn't think...we know the nuns never knew anything, so how..."

"No, baby," he interrupted. "Detective Bishop." He gave her a severe glare. "You remember her? We had to throw a few cases her way when she was with Homicide? She, uh, she worked for Major Case for a while. Guess who her partner was?"

"Goren," Olivia said, her eyes widening, her arms folded.

He nodded. "Bingo, baby, and when Eames came back, she left the squad. Eames wouldn't work with anyone else." He smiled. "Whenever one of them left for any reason, they just...always came back to each other. Sound familiar?"

She rolled her eyes and swatted at him, but grew serious again. "Where is Bishop now?"

"That's the thing," he said, walking toward her office door. He grabbed the knob, turned, and as he pushed it open, he said, "No one fucking knows."

She gave him a wide-eyed scoff in response, and before she followed him out into the squad room, she grabbed the bottle of antacid off of her desk. She popped the top, tossed two tablets into her mouth, and walked with him as she chewed. "Shit," she sighed, and she narrowed her eyes, swearing to herself that the case would come to close. Tonight.

 ** _Peace and Love_**

 ** _Jo_**

 ** _MarchCommaJo on Twitter_**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"Honey," he whispered, brushing her hair with his fingers. He sighed, his eyes closing briefly. No part of him wanted to wake her up, but he knew if he didn't, she'd be pissed. "Baby, come on." He bent his head lower, kissed her forehead, and then trailed his lips down the bridge of her nose and pecked the tip of it lightly. "Sweetheart, rise and shine."

She moaned lightly, rolling over onto her shoulder, mumbling something. The leather couch crinkled and creaked as she moved, and her loose top slipped down a bit, exposing skin and the fading blue of a hickey Elliot had left on her a while ago. "No," she complained, shaking her head.

He chuckled, his hands now sliding along the curves of her horizontal body. "Baby, this is important, come on." He kissed her, this time it was full on the lips, and he clutched her head in his hands so when he sat upright again, she had no choice but to follow with him.

Again, she moaned, the sound caught in her husband's mouth. Wakefulness was seeping in, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back hungrily.

He pushed her back, knowing if it lasted a moment longer he wouldn't be able to control himself, and he exhaled harshly, shaking his head. "Damn, baby." He laughed and kissed her forehead again. "You okay? You up, now?"

"Unfortunately," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. But then, she smirked, and one hand skittered up his thigh and lightly grazed his grown bulge. "But, uh, so are you."

He made a pained noise, begrudgingly shooing her hand away. "I wish we could do something about that, fuck, in the worst way, baby," he told her, pulling on his pants and shifting in his seat. "I, uh, I need you to come into the interrogation room with me."

Squinting, she raked her fingers through her hair and stifled a yawn. "But I thought Amaro and Rollins were..."

He shot her a look and cut her off. "They're not getting anywhere. Fin called me, he actually said that the only two people who would break this guy are..."

"Me and you," she sighed, nodding. She turned her eyes up at him. "We always were unstoppable together."

"We are," he corrected, giving her a pointed look. "And we always will be." He grinned and pulled her up off of her office couch. "Wanna go show the new-blood how this really works?"

She nodded, gave him a short and sweet kiss, and walked over to her desk. She lifted the almost-empty antacid bottle and shook out two of them, ignoring the concerned look Elliot was giving her. She led him out of her office and tried to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, hoping the leather-grain wasn't imprinted into the side of her face. She mumbled what she hoped was a friendly hello to Fin, blew by Rollins and Amaro, who were looking at her apologetically, and followed Elliot into the observation room. She narrowed her eyes when she was met with Barba and a redheaded lawyer that, at first glance, reminded her of someone she used to know.

"Benson," Barba said, grinning smugly. "This is Jane Trubedeux, she's taking over the Ramirez case."

"Yeah, hi," Olivia spat coldly as she chewed on her Tums. She folded her arms and looked back toward Barba. "What are we doing in here? Why's he holding out if you offered him a deal?"

Trubedeux scoffed. "He hasn't offered my client anything, yet. In fact, I'm beginning to think we're wasting time."

Barba held up a finger and looked, offended, at the younger woman. "Once he gives us something worthy of a deal, he'll have one, that's why I called in the best."

Elliot's smirk gleamed and he straightened out his tie a bit. "We get what we want out of him, and what, you cut his sentence in half?"

Barba crossed his arms and sat on the edge of a small table. "No, I take the conspiracy charge off the table and drop the attempted murder charge."

Olivia furrowed her brow. "Attempted murder?"

"Yeah," Barba said with a sly smile. "When he realized Bramson gave him up, he tried to run her over with his car."

Olivia and Elliot looked at each other, shot both lawyers an annoyed glance, then walked into the interrogation room, knowing Elliot was right behind her.

Ramirez sat up a little straighter. "Oh, hello, there," he said with a smarmy voice, dripping with lust. "They send you in here to seduce a confession out of me?" He leaned back in his chair and licked his lips. "I might be down for that."

"You wish," she said with a small laugh. "They sent me in here because no one seems to be able to make you understand that we are the only lifeline you have." She pulled out a chair and sat down, folding her hands on the cold table in front of her. "If you don't talk to us, we can't help you, and you have to take your chances with Bishop."

"Yeah, well," Ramirez frowned and slumped over a bit. "Your lawyer didn't do good enough, and I'm not giving up what I got unless I get what I want."

Elliot, coming up behind Ramirez, leaned over and spoke threateningly into his ear. "You're not getting what you want, unless you give us what you got." He leaned further over, his narrow-eyed glare rounding to shoot directly at Ramirez. "You asked us to guarantee your safety. We can't do that unless we know what, exactly, we're protecting you from, you understand?" He grabbed a folding chair and pulled it back toward him, deliberately making the metal legs scrape along the stone floor. He smirked when he saw the irritation on Ramirez's face, knowing it was getting under his skin.

Ramirez watched Elliot sit beside him and roll up his sleeves. Almost an entire sleeve of black and grey ink came into view on one arm, the unmistakable marine insignia, globe and anchor, what looked like the lower half of a crucifix, and several smaller, intricate designs stared at him from a rather thick and threatening group of muscles. He swallowed, wondering now which was more life-threatening, giving Bishop up or withholding information from Elliot.

Olivia turned her gaze from Elliot to Ramirez, and she kept a calm and steady voice as she asked, "How does Bishop factor into this? Why is she threatening you, exactly?"

Ramirez drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, licked his lips, and shook his head. "No, man. Not until you promise you'll keep her away from me. I want a private cell, armed guard twenty-four-seven, and I want..."

"That's not how this works," Elliot said, his voice low, cool. "You need to tell us how to get to Bishop, or we can't protect you."

"Do you talk directly to her?" Olivia asked, tilting her head. "Or do you go through someone else?" She was met with silence.

Ramirez heard a scraping sound and his head whipped toward Elliot, who stood up and spun his chair around. Ramirez chokes and his eyes widened, noticing Elliot looking back at him with an evil glare as one by one he cracked his knuckles. "Some...someone else," he choked out, fear lacing his words.

"We need a name," Elliot said, his jaw tight and his teeth clenched.

Ramirez sat, silent and still, and crossed his arms.

Elliot took a slow, deep breath, trying not to bare his fangs the way he usually would. After all, he wasn't just a detective anymore, he was much higher on the food chain and felt he should act as such. He leaned over, coming almost nose to nose with Ramirez. "Ya know what? Never mind." He pushed his chair back and stood up, and then looked at Olivia. "We'll find Bishop ourselves, we have a pretty solid lead. Gotta have this one tossed into Gen Pop at Rikers," he said with a shrug. Then, he turned, smirked, and narrowed his eyes at Ramirez. "How long do you think it'll take for Bishop to get to you?" He took a step forward. "An hour? A day? Maybe two?" He chuckled and folded his arms. "Maybe less than an hour?" He tilted his head, leaned a bit closer, and whispered, "Fifteen minutes?"

Olivia grinned, standing, and she headed over to the door. "All right, Sergeant," she said, "I'll get him moved as soon as I talk to his lawyer."

Elliot sneered at Ramirez before turning and moving toward Olivia, and just as he was about to walk out of the room, he heard the tell-tale whimper and panicked breathing that meant they were about to get exactly what they wanted.

"Wait!" Ramirez shouted, his eyes bulging out of his head and his mouth screwed into a horrified twist. "I'll...I'll tell you, but when I do, please, you have to put me someplace safe."

Elliot turned back toward him slowly and took three large steps, folding his large arms over his chest. "I'm listening."

Shaking slightly, Ramirez exhaled and pressed his lips together. "This guy, Marcus Devlin, he sets up phone calls. I've never met the lady in person, but she's the one that set me and Sarah up with the people at Angels of Mercy. She gave us fake papers, fictional lives, fixed it so we'd have no problem taking Valerie home. At first, it was just to have a cover, but then...a while ago there was this scam we helped her with. Smuggling drugs into the city with..."

"Baby formula?" Olivia said, her eyes wide. "No, we...we got them," she mumbled, moving closer to Elliot.

Ramirez shook his head. "No, you only got the people Bishop wanted you to get." He looked at Olivia. "Bishop knew the cops were sniffing around, someone tipped her off. She got us out of harm's way and let everyone else take the rap. Even told her partner to make sure there were no, uh, loose ends."

"Pfieffer," Olivia hissed.

With one arched brow, Elliot looked at Olivia. "Or Kendall," he said, the name tasting bitter on his tongue. It was a case he'd just as soon forget, one that haunted him enough, and now it was giving him even more grief.

Ramirez squinted. "Yeah, Kendall." He spat out a hushed, "Bastard," and then continued his confession. "Once the drug op was blown, Bishop flipped. Devlin, her fucking messenger boy, threatened me, threatened Sarah, told us if we left town or went to the cops she'd know and we'd end up like those other people." He cleared his throat. "We stayed pretty low-key for a while, then Sarah got a call, couple years ago, from Devlin. Bishop came up with this 'failproof' insurance fraud and charity gouging scheme, gave us a bunch of forged documents and hooked us up with that doctor. And Valerie..." He sighed and hung his head. "That poor kid...it wasn't right, it wasn't easy, but it was what we had to do," he told them, remorse seeming to overflow from his every pore.

"Did you have to rape and kill 'that poor kid,' too? Ir was that just revenge on Sarah?" Elliot snarled.

"That wasn't me!" Ramirez barked. "I never meant for her to die. I just...I didn't want her to hurt anymore. I couldn't be part of it. I told Devlin to tell Bishop I wanted out. And then I got wind of some schmuck cop poking around trying to save the kid's life, asked Sarah and the kid to move in with him, they were gonna take him to the cleaner's and leave me in the dust, well, not if I could help it! I called Devlin, told him what I knew, two days later Valerie gets whacked and I'm hauled in here as suspect numero uno? That ain't right," he shook his head again.

Olivia looked at Elliot and jerked her head back, and when they were far enough away from Ramirez, she whispered, "So you think Bishop told Sarah to pin the paternity on Goren? She knew he'd met her when they were adopting...wait, El, what if Goren was part of the plan the whole time?"

"He was always the backup plan," Elliot said, nodding. "Bishop knew what case Goren was working, made sure that Sarah would somehow get wrapped up in the investigation, and either by luck or by design, Sarah got him in bed." He bit his lower lip and scratched a spot behind his ear. "She set him up to eventually take the fall, to, what, get even with him for taking his partner back? Choosing Eames over her?"

"It cost her her job," Olivia said, and then tilted her head. "El, what if Goren found out? What if he figured it out, and he..."

Elliot rubbed a hand down his face. "Get Devlin's number from this punk," he told her, cutting her off. "Send Amaro and Rollins to talk to Sarah again, bring all this shit up."

"Where are you going?" she asked, huffing.

He shot her a hot look and a small grin tugged at the corners of his lips. "To talk to Goren," he said. And then he rolled his eyes. "Again." He blew her a kiss and walked away, his gut telling him this would finally end, tonight.

 ** _Peace and Love_**

 ** _Jo_**

 ** _MarchCommaJo on Twitter_**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"You can't be in there for this," Fin said, narrowing his eyes at Olivia as he let go of her shoulders. He'd been holding her back for ten minutes already. "You're not his partner, anymore, you do realize that, don't ya?"

Her eyes shot daggers at him, her lips pressed and flattened into a thin line. "No shit," she spat. "God, I'm reminded of that every goddamn day!" She threw her arms in the air. "It doesn't mean it's not still my case, Fin! I started this! I should be in there with him, ending it!"

"She's a cop," Fin told her. "Not from this unit, either. You're not the arresting officer, or in IAB, so you have no reason to be in there, Captain," he said the moniker with a sarcastic lilt, as if mocking her with it. "Just do your job. Or is the job too much for you?"

She scoffed and her eyes rolled toward the ceiling. "Oh, fuck you, Fin," she hissed, shaking her head. "Just tell him...tell him I need to see him in my office when he's done." She didn't wait for a response. She dismissed his apology with a waved hand over her head, and she ignored his attempts to call her back into the observation room. She stormed into her office and slammed the door, and it only took a moment of hard and heavy angered breathing before she closed her eyes.

She knew why Fin was snippy. She'd been a brat ever since two other men from IAB found Bishop. After Elliot told her she had to stay out of the interrogation room and let him and Amaro handle it, she blew up at him. Fin had tried to calm her down, and keep her that way, but when she lost her temper, so did he, and what he said was right, she knew it. "Damn it," she huffed, slapping a hand up against the white wall of the office. Her eyes still closed, she moved and fell into the leather couch. She rolled a bit of tension out of her shoulders and for a minute her mind was completely blank. It was blissful.

But then the clarity became clouded with doubt, fear and memories, questions of why certain things had happened and why others had not. She thought back to the day Cragen walked away from his job, his home, his family. The tear-stained letter he'd left on her desk, which had since been read a hundred times at least, made her head spin, and it made her question everything she thought she knew. Except one thing.

Elliot.

"What?" she heard his voice say, her head popped up and her eyes shot open She saw him, standing over her, that pissed off expression on her face that simultaneously scared her and made her weak. It was then she realized that she must have fallen asleep. "What happened?" she asked, sitting up.

"You called me a prick and insulted my mother," he sneered at her, his arms folded.

She let out a small laugh, knowing he was half-joking and trying to worm an apology out of her. "You deserved it," she shrugged. But she looked up and winked at him. "You know why I was mad."

He coughed and nodded as he sat down. "Full confession," he said, looking at a spot on the floor. The expression on his face was blank, his color was off. "What she said...the things she did..." he swallowed hard. "You...I'm glad you weren't in there."

"What did she say?" she asked, more worried now. She turned her body to angle toward him, dropped her hands into his lap and cupped his knees, and she bit her lip as she studied his face.

With a sigh, he turned his head to look at her, and his left hand met her cheek. The cold of his platinum wedding band made her jerk away for a second, but he smiled when she settled against his palm and nuzzled him. "I love you," he told her. "I would kill for you. Die for you."

"Ditto, Stabler," she said with a smirk. She kissed the side of his hand as it stroked her cheek "Why are you..."

"But I swear to God, I swear on everything we have, baby, I wouldn't survive if you ever..." he stopped and his words fell away, giving out under the weight of his emotion. He choked back a sob and pulled her into him fully.

"Hey, hey," she tried to comfort him, rubbing her hands over his chest and back, dropping soft kisses to his cheeks and chin, finally kissing him full on the lips. "Baby, breathe. Just tell me what she told you. What did she say to you?" she cupped his face in her hands and held him steady, knowing if he was looking into her eyes, he had to tell her.

He took a deep breath, tried to stop shaking, and said, "She did it all for Goren."

She squinted. "He wanted her to..."

"No," he shook his head, not letting her finish. "She fell in love with him, and when he chose Eames over her, she freaked. She did everything she could think of to make him notice her, she thought he'd..." he paused, swallowed. "And then she said...she heard that he'd been shot. No one told her he survived, and she thought he died. She went crazy. This whole time she was trying to..."

"She wanted to get caught?" she questioned, confused. "I know you're upset, I don't...I don't even know why, but you have to talk to me, baby."

He took another slow, deep breath. "She was self-destructive," he said softly. "She didn't want to get caught. Not...not the way she did. She was trying to make other people feel what she was feeling, and when she found out Goren was alive, she sent Sarah to ruin his life, the way he'd ruined hers. She wanted him to hurt, the way she hurt him. She made him believe Valerie was his daughter, then she hired someone to rape her, kill her, to rip someone he loved away from him, the way she thought..." he shook his head again. "I don't know what I would do. If I ever lost you, I would..."

She kissed him, preventing him from saying anything else. "I'm right here," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere. It took me too fucking long to get you where I want you, so you bet your amazing ass I'm not giving you up."

He laughed and nodded, kissed her, and said, "It just got to me. Hearing her talk about...what she went through when she thought he was dead, it felt like...when you left me, Oregon, after Gitano...I know you came back, you always came back, but there were chunks of time, there, where it felt so endless...so hopeless. That's why...when I knew I had to leave, I promised myself I would still have you, the only way that would guarantee my survival." He pressed his lips to hers again. "I could lose everything I have, the house, my job, the car, all of it. I'd be perfectly fine, as long as I still have you."

"You will always have me,"she whispered, kissing him again. "I need you, too. Just as much. More." She scratched patterns into the skin of his back and dropped her head to his. "But...I have to ask...who killed her?" her voice broke. "Who killed that little girl?"

Elliot inhaled, looked at her, and said, "Devlin. He was Bishop's messenger boy, and he sent the most important message she had to deliver." He cleared his throat. "He wasn't told to rape her. This entire case...this was never supposed to get kicked to SVU. It was always meant for..."

"Oh, my God," Olivia gasped, one hand flying to her heart. "She wanted Goren to be the one that..."

"Yeah," Elliot cut her off and let out a harsh puff of air. "But, uh, the...the case is closed, so..." he licked his lips. "Barba scheduled a Seven-Thirty for her, and her arraignment will be on the calendar as soon as Skoda sees how crazy she is."

"Skoda?" Olivia asked. "We aren't calling George?"

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Honey, I think George has his hands full with Sarah Bramson," he laughed. He kissed her forehead. "We both have a fuckload of paperwork to do."

"You had to remind me," she whined, dropping her head to his shoulder again. She couldn't resist; she nipped at his neck lightly. Hearing him moan, she knew that paperwork was quickly being forgotten. She bit him harder, suckled gently, then worked her mouth up to his lips, covering them with hers.

"Baby," he mumbled, "We can't...fuck, why do you...you drive me fucking..." the babbling continued as he kissed her back hungrily, working his hands into her clothes. He tugged on her pants, fishing for the side edges of her underwear, when the loud knock on her office door made him freeze. "Shit," he hissed, backing away from her. He eyed her as she straightened out her clothes and he struggled to hide his now-painful erection.

"Come in," Olivia shouted, standing and trying to appear professional.

"I was trying to," Elliot grumbled under his breath, folding one leg over his knee and scooting toward the side of the couch.

Fin walked in, a sheepish look on his face. "Liv, look, about what I said..." he stopped, noticing Elliot. "Oh, hi."

Elliot nodded and gave him a small wave, tugging on his tie with the other hand. He looked at Olivia, mentally screaming at her to do what she had to do to get Fin out of the office.

"So, uh, I'm sorry," Fin said, stepping further into the office. He dropped his arms. "I didn't mean for it to come out so...wrong. I think..." he looked at her with a softer expression. "You're doing what you need to do, and you're good at it. It's just...hard for me to think of you as anything other than an equal, ya know? I don't think I'll ever get used to looking at the desk next to mine and seeing someone...who isn't you."

"Now, you know how I felt," she said, tilting her head. "I'm sorry, too, Fin. I let personal feelings get in the way of my job," she paused and then rolled her eyes. "As usual."

"No, that...that's what makes you great," Fin told her. "Don't doubt that."

Olivia nodded again. "Thanks," she said, smiling at Fin.

Fin waved to her with a smile, then shot Elliot another look before leaving the room.

Elliot's head slowly turned toward Olivia. "What did he say to you, exactly?"

"Don't worry about it, I deserved it," she laughed, finding his protectiveness amusing. She sat back down beside him, kissed him softly, and said, "You were amazing."

He grinned. "I love hearing you say that," he told her. "I love it more when you're naked." He chuckled and kissed her again. "So were you. This whole time, you've been pushing and fighting, and when someone else would've given up or handed the case to a different unit, you...you fought for that girl, baby. Like you always have."

She bit her lip and looked down at the diamond ring adorning her left hand. "Because of you," she said. "I wouldn't fight this hard...I wouldn't have the balls to fight, if I didn't have you." She looked back up at him. "You make me who I am."

Stunned, he kissed her with more fire than he had before, and he pulled away gripping her arms. He looked into her eyes and said, "Ditto, Stabler." His lips fell over hers again, and as he kissed his wife, his hands smoothed over her toned body and he gripped her harder. He knew they'd always have to fight, prove themselves, and tell the world that sometimes, the underdogs do come out on top. As long as they had each other, they'd always fight to win.

 ** _Peace and Love_**

 ** _Jo_**

 ** _MarchCommaJo on Twitter_**


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